disassociated.com

disassociated has gone fishing, see you next week

John Lampard — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:28 +0000

I think I’ve been posting up snippets from my favourite reads, and other discoveries, five days a week for the last 18 months, and have barely missed a beat in the process… definitely time for week’s break I’d say.

I’ll be back next Monday, 13 July, but in the meantime if you’re for looking for something to read check out the archives.

Michelangelo makes an appearance in his own final painting

John Lampard — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:18:39 +0000

A self portrait of Michelangelo has been uncovered during the restoration of the Renaissance artist’s final work, “The crucifixion of Saint Peter”, and can be seen in the top left hand side of the painting, where the artist portrays himself on horseback, wearing a blue turban.

Maurizio De Luca, the Vatican’s head of paintings restoration, said the finding, possibly the only clear Michelangelo self-portrait in existence, was “extraordinary and moving”, and was given extra poignancy by appearing in the artist’s last painted work.

Photo: we met a puppy near Mount Ararat in Turkey

John Lampard — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:57:16 +0000

Co-travellers asked if we could keep him as a souvenir of Turkey, but to no avail.

Could we use (or abuse) radio waves to travel at warp speeds?

John Lampard — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:28:43 +0000

When Albert Einstein said nothing could travel faster than the speed of light, he apparently said nothing about sound waves, according to John Singleton of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, who says because radio waves do not constitute “particles and information” they are therefore exempt (in a fashion) from the universe’s ultimate speed limit.

Most people think Einstein said that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, but that’s not really the case, Singleton said. Einstein predicted that particles and information can’t travel faster than the speed of light – but phenomenon like radio waves? That’s a different story, said Singleton, a Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow. Singleton has created a gadget that abuses radio waves so severely that they finally give in and travel faster than light.

What’s a non disclosure or two between friends?

John Lampard — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:03:04 +0000

Given that a secret is no fun unless it is shared, I’m not sure that the concept of Friend Disclosure Agreements, designed to protect ideas, will actually work… unless possibly a profit-sharing arrangement can also be reached.

This is a “warm blanket” agreement with which, by requesting your agreement to it, I am helping myself sleep at night by placing a small amount of formality on the sharing of The Idea. I believe The Idea will only improve as a result of having solicited your honest and clear feedback.

Make cut lunches more desirable by way of their packaging

John Lampard — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:35:43 +0000

A range of very cool lunch box packages designed by Emma Smart.

Loneliness is a negative state, solitude is the opposite

John Lampard — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:09:17 +0000

While loneliness is a state many people do not choose, solitude is quite the opposite… while still being exactly the same. Unlike loneliness however, solitude is beneficial in that it gives us the chance to disconnect a little and gather our thoughts.

Loneliness is a negative state, marked by a sense of isolation. One feels that something is missing. It is possible to be with people and still feel lonely – perhaps the most bitter form of loneliness. Solitude is the state of being alone without being lonely. It is a positive and constructive state of engagement with oneself. Solitude is desirable, a state of being alone where you provide yourself wonderful and sufficient company.

Photographed: the secret lives of nails by Vlad Artazov

John Lampard — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:48:04 +0000

The nailing work of Czech photographer Vlad Artazov.

Babies names are not carried far and wide by the internet

John Lampard — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:22:46 +0000

Interesting premise, the rise of the internet and even globalisation has not created the global village that many people predicted it would.

At least this is the opinion of two researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, after studying names given to babies since 1995. They found naming trends tended to remain local rather global despite the rise of email and the ability to spread idea quickly via the internet.

The two researchers’ study of the spread of new names was prompted by their discovery that the relationship between the number of private e-mails sent in America and the distance between sender and recipient falls off far more steeply than they expected. People are overwhelmingly e-mailing others in the same city, rather than those far away.